Face plates of horizontal boring and facing machines



March I8, 1958 H. w. L. KEARNS FACE PLATES 0F HORIZONTAL BORING AND meme MACHINES Filed July 15,1955

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTDRWEI H. W. Ll KEARNS March 18, 1958 2,826,928

FACE PLATES OF HORIZONTAL BORING AND FACING MACHINES Filed July 15, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTOE.

S N R K m R w m W W PL .1 Hg

March 18, 1958 H. w. L. KEARNS 2,326,928

FACE PLATES OF HORIZONTAL BORING AND FACING MACHINES Filed July 13, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 HENRY WLKEARNs This invention relates'to face plates of horizontal borsing and facing: machines, and its object is to" provid'e an improved worm and"wormwheel*mechanisnr fondisplacing thetool-holding facing slide of'the face plate of-such a' machine.

Unlike conventional worm andwormwheelpairs' wherein the worm is considerably smaller in "diameter than the wormwheel with which-it meshes,-the present invention'tntilises a worm surrounding the main-spindle and therefore considerably largerin diameterthan 'a-wo'rmwheel'rneshing' therewith and witha rack onthe facing slide.

When the facing slide of a face plate is displaced by a wormwheeldirectlymeshing witira rack" on the slide and meshing withand drivenLby awormi'formed on a cylindrical surface co-axial with the main-:spindle on which the face plate is mounted, hithertothefacing slideof the face plate has been provided withonly one rack which, to permit protrusion of the boring bar, is ofiset relatively to the axis of the "faceplate ena or the main spindle. Since the rack is therefore oifset from the longitudinal axis of the facing slide it cannot apply :a balanced force to move the slide truly parallel to its own longitudinal axis and, to provide such a balanced force, obviously a pair of racks, one at each side of the longitudinal axis of the slide, would be preferable.

However, the obvious arrangement of two equallypitched racks and wormwheels symmetrical about the longitudinal axis of the slide is not practicable because at any two angular positions of a wormwheel symmetrical on each side of a given plane containing the axis of a worm with which the wormwheel meshes, other than diametrally opposite positions, the projection of the teeth of the wormwheel on to such plane has not the same value. The longitudinal axis of the facing slide at any instant lies in such a given plane and therefore the teeth of each of identically similar wormwheels symmetrically arranged on each side of the slide axis would have different projections on to racks parallel with the slide axis. The wormwheels so disposed would therefore not mesh with equally pitched racks and unequally pitched racks would not produce a balanced thrust on the slide.

The difficulty of providing a facing slide mechanism with a pair of equally pitched racks meshing with a pair of wormwheels meshing with a worm in common, formed on a cylindrical surface around the main spindle, is overcome according to the present invention by arranging the racks asymmetrically one on each side of and parallel with the longitudinal axis of the slide such that the projection of the teeth of the wormwheels on to the common plane of the slide and spindle axes, and hence on to the racks, is of equal value in each case although, of course, opposite in direction.

Accordingly, the present invention consists in a face plate of a horizontal boring and facing machine having a facing slide displaceable transversely by a worm, formed on a cylindrical surface co-axially around the main spindle meshing with a pair of wormwheels meshp tfinijjo F I ice . Patented Mar. 18, 1958 ingwlt l' i a pair or 'raeks on the racing slide, :the racks having teeth of equal but oppositely directed inclination and'being arranged parallel to but,--with the wormwheels, asymmetrically on opposite sides of thelongitudinal axis of the faci-ng slide, such that the; projection of the wormthe facing" slide drive describedin connection with Figs'.-4 and 5 of-the specification of onrUnited-Kingdom Patent No. 499,945, wherein a air of racks on the slide 'are driven byidentically' -a'li-le helical pinion's meshing therewi-th a-nd with a spiralfacecamco-axial with theiace plate. ln sncharrangement,'the skew'tee'th ofthehelical pinions recede, fromtlie' portion of each thereof ae- "tuallyitniengagementwith'the spiral rib of thespiral face cam,-awa iirom the'planeof the spiral rib. Consequent- :lyitheFsliew pinions are 'not precluded from nieshing' both with the spiral face cam and with racks symmetrical on each side of the axis of the facing'slide.

Aiace'plate'havin afacing slide displaced by wormwheels meshing both with a worm co-axial with the main .spindle a-nd with two racks provided asymmetrically-one 'on each sid 'ofthe longitudinal axis ofthe facing slide, iis-vs'hown, in some views somewhat diagrammatically, in thezaccompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the faceplate one main spindle, and

Fig.- Zisia longitudinal section thereof with some parts imsectionin diiferent planes for the purpose of illustration.

Fig. 3-is an isometric view"showin'g the wormwheels meshingwith both: the worm and the racks.

Figs..--4 and 5 are explanatorydia'grams Referringto Figs. 1, 2 and a is a faceplatemounted coaxially on the main spindle b of a horizontal boring machine and rotated by a pinion (not shown) meshing with spur teeth a c is the facing slide, which is displaced across the face plate a, and which is slotted at c to permit the protrusion of the boring bar d.

e is a worm, mounted co-axially about the main spindle b, and arranged to be rotated at variable speeds by a shaft 2 through a pinion e meshing with a ring of spur wheel teeth e on the rear end of the body of the worm e. As mentioned above, some parts in Fig. 2 are shown in section indifferent planes, to facilitate illustration, and it is therefore explained that the axis of the shaft e and pinion e is not in fact vertically below the axis of the worm 2 but is oif-set so that the pinion e meshes with the teeth e at a position on the far side of the ring of teeth e This drive of the worm follows standard practice and forms no part of the present invention.

The worm e has a helical rib of constant radius and helix angle formed on and surrounding a cylindrical surface as distinguished from a spiral rib of progressively changing radius formed on the face of a disc as shown in ourUnited Kingdom patent specification No. 499,945.

Meshing with the worm e are a pair of wormwheels f f one on each side of the longitudinal axis 0 of the facing slide 0. These wormwheels F, f are small in diameter compared with the diameter of the worm e, and may therefore be regarded as helical pinions.

The plane of each of the wormwheels P, f is, as usual with worm and wormwheel gearing, radial to the Worm e.

Each wormwheel P, f meshes with a different rack g g located one on each side of and parallel with the axis c of the facing slide 0, to which latter both are secured.

The meshing of the wormwheels 1, f with both the worm e and the racks g g is shown pictorially in Fig. 3,

' As? the wormwheels f F are radial to the worm e and are on opposite sides of the axis. 4: of the slide c, they present their teeth oppositely inclined relatively to such axis a". The teeth of the racks' g g with which the wormwheels, 'f f mesh as skew .pinions, are therefore oppositely inclined;

To produce a balanced thrust on the slide c, the pitch of the teeth of both racks g g must be alike and,.to mesh with the wormwheels f f equally pitched racks must be arranged symmetrically as will now be explained.

Fig. 4 shows diagrammatically that if the wormwheels f and f were arranged symmetrically at an angle x on either side of the facing slide axis c the projections p and p of any two correspondingand identical teeth and} on to the common plane of the spindle and facing slide axes, represented by the axisc, would be different. Consequently such symmetrically arranged wormwheels could not mesh with equally pitched. racks g and g parallel to the axis c.

Fig. 5 shows diagrammatically that the projections p on to c of the teeth 1 and t are equal if the wormwheels have different angular positions and the wormwheels will then mesh with equally pitched racks arranged asymmetrically on either side of the axis c.

The asymmetrical relationship can be expressed in terms of either the angular positions of the wormwheels or the separation of the racks from the facing slide axis.

If r is the angle of inclination of the rack teeth and w the helix angle of the worm e, then the angular positions of the wormwheels f and f with respect to c are respectively r --w and r+w.

Alternatively, the mean separation of the racks g and g from c are respectively R sin (r-w) and R sin (r+w) where R is the mean radial distance of each wormwheel axis from the axis of the worm e.

It will be appreciated that for the purpose of illustration, the helix angle w in Figs. 4 and 5 is larger than would be used in practice.- As can be seen from Fig. 2, with a small helix angle as would be used on an actual 4 a machine, the angular asymmetry of the wormwheels is i not veryapparent although it is in fact presentand is of course equal to 2w. s

I claim:

In combination with an annular member which is rotatable about its annular axis, a slide member slidably mounted on said annular member with a longitudinal axis of said slide member aligned with the direction of sliding and crossing at right-angles said axis of said annular member, a cylindrical worm member having a helical worm rib of constant radius and helix angle on the cylindrical surface thereof, said cylindrical worm member being rotatably mounted on and coaxially with said annular member, a pair of wormwheels journalled in said annular member and meshing with said helical worm rib at asymmetric positions spaced one on each side of the common plane of said axis of said annular member and said longitudinal axis of said slide member, the angular asymmetry of said positions measured at the axis of said cylindrical worm member being twice the helix angle of said helical worm rib, and a pair of racks having teeth of equal pitch but of oppositely directed inclination on each rack, said racks being mounted fast on said slide member parallel with and spaced one on each side of said longitudinal axis of said slide member to cross said asymmetric positions and mesh one with each of said wormwheels respectively, whereby rotation of said worm member transmits through said wormwheels equal thrust to each of said racks to slide said slide member across said annular member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,947,853 King Feb. 20, 1934 2,254,766 Andren Sept. 2, 1941 2,566,034 Roberts Aug. 28, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 499,945 Great Britain Jan. 31, 1939 632,611 Great Britain Nov. 28, 1949 

